With the advent of mass market digital communications, applications and content distribution, many access networks such as wireless networks, cable networks and Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) networks are pressed for user capacity, with, for example Evolution-Data Optimized (EVDO), High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Long Term Evolution (LTE), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), DOCSIS, DSL, and Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) becoming user capacity constrained. In the wireless case, although network capacity will increase with new higher capacity wireless radio access technologies, such as Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO), and with more frequency spectrum and cell splitting being deployed in the future, these capacity gains are likely to be less than what is required to meet growing digital networking demand.
Similarly, although wire line access networks, such as cable and DSL, can have higher average capacity per user compared to wireless, wire line user service consumption habits are trending toward very high bandwidth applications and content that can quickly consume the available capacity and degrade overall network service experience. Because some components of service provider costs go up with increasing bandwidth, this trend will also negatively impact service provider profits.
The foregoing example of trends and issues is intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the art will become apparent to those of skill in the relevant art upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings.